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Lincoln Kaplan

First post:
Jun 16, 2018 Latest post:
Oct 22, 2018

On Wednesday May, 30, 2018 at our 28 week appointment at Mayo Clinic in Red Wing we went in for a check-up ultrasound on a blood sack they had found in Ashlan's placenta along with the glucose testing and all the fun news that comes with the 28 week appointment. But it did not turn out how we thought it would we ended up leaving with the news that they found on the ultrasound our baby boy "may" have a "possible" heart abnormality....they did not seem concerned. They told us they would like to send us to Mayo in Rochester to have a Level 2 ultrasound done along with a fetal echocardiogram and meeting with a pediatric cardiologist..."WOW that was a lot if it is not something to be concerened about" is what was running through our heads. But we called Rochester got our appointments all set for Monday, June 4, 2018 starting at 8am and going until 4pm so clearly was going to be a long day and it was about to be the longest day wait ever or those appointments after the news we had just received.

June 4, 2018 came and went like that and was by far one of the hardest and longest day of our lives thus far. We found out indeed our little boy does have a congenital heart defect (CHD). His CHD is called TGA- Transposition of the Great Arteries. In simple his pulmonary artery is connected to his left ventricle vs. the right ventricle like it should be in a normal healthy heart and then his Aorta is connected to the right ventricle and should be connected to the left. We found out that he will need open heart surgery 3-5 days after birth and then will stay in the hospital for recovery anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. And then have routine visits to a cardiologist for the rest of his life. This was a lot to swallow to say the least but the cardiologist did explain the AMAZING success rate which is at 97% for this particular open heart surgery....YES that gave us great optimisum! Still hearing that our little boy will have to have open heart surgery is not something any parent ever wants to hear but with strong faith, optimisum and support we will overcome this and come out ten times stronger on the other side and our little boy will have one amazingly, awesome, SPECIAL HEART. We thank everyone for all the the support we have already gotten and the prayers that just keep coming as we walk through this journey taking it one step at a time with he help of God and our friends and family. From here we will be transferring to the Mother Baby Center and Children’s Hosptial in Minneapolis where he willbe born and then have his surgies with the best of the best and we could not be more confident with our little mans life than with the doctors at children’s 💙🙏🏼